This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting veneer pieces and, more particularly, to a cutting apparatus for dividing the veneer pieces into equal sections which may be utilized for producing seam plates.
In manufacturing plywood, a log of predetermined length is subjected to a rotary lathe or other suitable devices in order to obtain thin sheets of veneer peeled from the log. A continuous veneer sheet, if it extends the full length of the log, is cut into plates which are then processed to form a plywood sheet. The log, however, often has an irregular-shaped end or recess that creates irregular surface portions appeared at intervals on one of the edges of the veneer sheet. Such irregular portions must be removed by cutting the veneer sheet in a direction along which the wood fibers extend, resulting in rectangular veneer pieces one of which has an irregular surface at one of its shorter edges. Not using such veneer pieces lowers the efficiency of usage of wood materials.
In order to achieve maximum efficiency, it has been known in the art to provide a slit or groove on the circumference of the log at the longitudinal center thereof so that two veneer sheets each having a half length of the log may be peeled off by the operation of the rotary lathe, only one of the sheets including the irregular surface. These sheets are cut into pieces which, after removing those having the irregular surface, are joined together to form a seam plate which in turn can be used as a core of plywood. However, this initial separation involves disadvantages that the number of veneer pieces to be joined is doubled and therefore the subsequent process requires an increased amount of work, while reducing the number of seamless plates to be obtained. Further, when the log is peeled to a depth where the groove terminates, the rotary lathe begins to furnish a single veneer sheet having the full length of the log, and this still lowers efficiency of the subsequent process.
Japanese Patent No. 1057528 (Publication No. 55-47562) discloses an automatic system for removing an irregular-shaped portion from a veneer piece and for joining together veneer pieces or sections of regular length to form a seam plate. However, a cutting device disclosed therein is adapted only to cut the veneer piece along the direction of the wood fibers and is not adapted to cut it along the transverse direction. Therefore, if the veneer pieces having the full length of the log are processed in such a system, waste of wood materials is inevitably increased.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which may efficietly and precisely cut a veneer piece into equal sections along the transverse direction thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cutting apparatus of the type set forth above which is particularly suitable for use in combination with a known automatic system for forming seam plates.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a cutting apparatus which may automatically the orientation or posture of a veneer piece from a random mass thereof before cutting.